Phoenix

Chapter Four

I actually had a really good time with Jack. Such a good time, in fact, that for the next month and a half, the two of us, on our days off, of course, would go out into the world just to hang out and talk. A couple of times, he even came to my house to watch a series the two of us had recently got into, which was rare in on itself, considering I never had any of my own friends over to hang out. Well, other than Tara, but more often times than not she's either talking about how amazing her girlfriend is or is spending time trying to hook me up with someone. Besides, we had our own lives and eventually, we barely even hung out anymore outside of work. I know, it was kind of sad, but it was true. So, I was incredibly glad for Jack, and I'm sure it was showing on my face, for when I went to work, Tara was basically cornering me at my locker, brows raised, and arms crossed over her chest.

After a moment of gathering my things, I shut my locker and shot her a side glance, wondering why the heck she was staring at me like that. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Tara tilted her head, staring me down as if she was trying to...well, read my soul, essentially. It was freaky how some women could do that, and despite myself, I wanted to curl up in a corner and hide from her intense gaze. Finally, after a moment, she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I dunno, you seem...happier? You're like...glowing, right now. Did I miss something?" She gasped dramatically, grabbing my bicep rather tightly. "Did you meet a woman, Phoenix?! Ooh, what's her name? Do I know her? Oh my god I can't believe you kept this from me, you jerk! Tell me all the juicy details!"

I snorted and gently pried out of her grasp, rubbing my arm where she had grabbed me before I shrugged and looked off to the side, her gaze still too intense for me to meet. "Actually, I made another friend, since you seem to be hanging out more with your girlfriend, lately." Tara pouted, but didn't interrupt me to speak. "And...he's really nice. He's into a lot of the same things as I am, and he's pretty good at carrying conversations and the like. I've always been so bad at holding a conversation, but he makes it seem so easy. I don't understand how he can do it, but he can, and that means I'm not struggling on what to come up with to say." I risked a glance towards her, watching as she pursed her lips and nodded in awe, before walking over to me and patting me on the back.

"I'm so proud of you, Phoenix! Making friends without my help, gah, are you sure you even need me anymore??"

I gently patted her arm. "Of course, I need you, Tara. Without you, Jeremy would drive me to murder someone. Not that I would, but he really does push it."

Tara nodded enthusiastically, as if I couldn't have said anything truer. "You sure are right about that. Sometimes I wonder if he just has a massive crush on you, or something, and he's one of those closeted assholes who take out their anger on everyone else." She paused and tilted her head, mulling over her words. "Actually, he does kind of make me question him at times."

"Don't let him hear you say that," I told her, clipping on my nametag, "he'll turn his wrath on you next, and you definitely don't need that shit."

Tara wrapped her arm around my shoulder, the both of us heading out on the main floor together. "Awe, thanks for looking out for me, boo."

I snorted and rolled my eyes playfully, shooting her a brief side glance as we walked up to my assigned register. "Yeah, yeah. Go get yourself to your register, miss, else the vulture may sweep in," I told her, referring to our boss who was really strict about us being at our registers on time.

Tara gave me a mock salute before she listened to me and made her way over to her register, only two isles from my own. I did all the necessary things I needed to do, and after three minutes, had my first customer waddling up to me.

Work went by in a flash, but it usually did when it was busy, and I was sure it was thanks to me being on autopilot. By the time I got off, I was craving a caramel macchiato, and as I was in the staff room hanging up my things, I decided that I would stop by Starbucks to get a drink. As I was closing my locker, ready to leave, Tara walked in the room, eyes glued to her phone as she made her way over to me.

"Yo, did you hear what's happening lately? I just saw this, but holy shit, it's crazy."

I furrowed my brows, pinning her with a questionable stare, wondering what she was even talking about. "Hear what?"

Tara turned her phone towards me, the screen projecting a news article. "People who are on their death beds are just miraculously getting better, and like, people are going crazy calling it a miracle, or something. But dude, this is some crazy shit right here."

I frowned and took her phone from her, my gaze skimming over the words describing these so-called miracles. Apparently, people who were in comas for years were now waking up fine and healthy, as if they had been given a second chance, and there were people who had stage four cancer that was somehow cured overnight. Severe crash victims were walking away without a single scratch on their person. It was...startling to see so many recovering, and yeah, while it was good for them and their families, I wondered what it would do to the natural balance of things. I mean, humans had time limits for a reason. If they were to somehow disregard that, there was no telling what may happen to the balance of things.

I probably needed to check up on this, make sure these people were supposed to recover from whatever ailments that had them on their death beds.

Feigning nonchalance, I handed Tara back her phone and shrugged lightly, making sure I had my phone before I began heading towards the door. "Well, that's nice, I guess. Happy for the families."

"You don't think it's creepy?" Tara wondered, brows pinching together.

I looked back towards her. "I think it's incredibly creepy that there's so many that are just...getting better overnight, but I don't think...I don't know, it's weird, for sure. Who knows, maybe it's the government, or something. You know, what with those weird conspiracy theories."

Tara stopped in her tracks; eyes wide as she pointed towards me. "You're so right! What if they're injecting some kind of cure all serum into people, so those people get better and get back to work to make them more money?! Holy shit Phoenix, I think you may be on to something!"

I chuckled lightheartedly and shook my head, opening the door. "Sure, maybe. But anyway, I got to get home. God forbid if I'm not there to feed Pepper, even if his bowl is still full."

Tara snorted and grabbed her purse, following me out of the store, into the parking lot. "I freaking love that cat of yours. Such a furball of pure love. When are you going to let me go and kidnap him?"

"Never," I answered as I approached my car, yanking my keys out of my pocket. "You know he's family to me, the only one I got right now. I wouldn't give him up for nothing."

Tara wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out towards me. "Well fine then. I guess I'll have to make do with all the pics you send me. I still like that one where he's half hanging off the couch with a piece of cheese in his mouth. So damn cute."

I chuckled and gave her a wave before I climbed into my car, sighing as I started it and began the drive to Starbucks. And the whole time, the thing that Tara showed me was on my mind. The miraculous recoveries of over a hundred people in the same night. It truly was weird, and I seriously wondered if this was worse than I thought. Either that, or I was just making something out of nothing. Who knows, maybe Father was just being lenient with this whole thing.

Either way, I probably should check into this, just to make sure.